Lock guard



S. F. STANLEY Nov. 28, 1950 LOCK GUARD Filed April 8 1949 Fig.2.

Fig. 3.

Inventor Set/1 F. Stanley and Patented Nov. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOCK GUARD Seth F. Stanley, Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Application April 8, 1949, Serial No. 86,362

2 Claims.

This invention relates to novel and useful improvements in lock guards.

An object of this invention is to prevent the turning of a key in a look by means of holding the key against rotation through the medium of a guard which fixes to the doorknob shank and which is easily openable to release the key in order to render the guardineffectual when it is undesirable.

Another object of this invention is to hold a key from rotation from the inside part of the door and also to prevent the removal of the key by persons unauthorized urging the key from the outside of the door, the field of utility being preferably both uses.

Ancillary objects and features of novelty will become apparent to those skilled in the art, in following the description of the preferred form of the invention, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of the invention showing the same applied to a conventional doorknob and door fragment;

Figure 2 is a front view of the invention showing the same applied to a doorknob portion, the doorknob portion being the result of a sectional view taken on the view in Figure 1, and;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 2 and in the direction of the arrows.

The present device illustrative of one form of the invention has two prime fields of utility. The first is the prevention of small children from locking themselves in closets, rooms or other lockable places. Secondly the device is used well to prevent unauthorized persons from pushing the key from the lock and utilizing a, passkey in lieu thereof in order that unauthorized entry may be perpetrated.

A conventional door portion I is shown with a conventional lock mechanism l2 therein. The lock mechanism includes a front plate l4 having a doorknob [5 extending therethrough through the medium of the shank portion 18.

A key 20 is illustrated as being disposed in the keyhole 22. The preferred form of the inven tion is adapted to be removably disposed on the shank portion N3 of the doorknob and consists of a single piecespring metal bracket or holder.

Essentially there are two legs 24 and 26 respectively. The leg 26 has its lower portion provided with a right angular extension 28 having a protuberance or enlargement 39 therein. This en largement acts as a stop for the leg 24.

I The two legs 26 and 28 are connected at their top ends and form a small bight 32 to enhance the resiliency of the article and in order that the two legs may be spread away from each other at all times until they are restricted to substantially parallel relationship by utility of the protuberance as disclosed in Figure 2.

Similar bends 34 and 36 respectively are provided in the legs slightly below the bight 32 in order to embrace the door knob portion l8. From the above described structure it is seen that the guard may easily be removed and applied by simply pulling the legs 24 and 26 away from each other in order to override the protuberance 30. In applying the device the reverse operation takes place.

Intermediate the ends of the legs 24 and 26 and specifically between the lower ends thereof and the similar bends 34 and 36, there is a pair of slots 38 and 40 provided. These slots are in horizontal alignment with each other and accommodate the enlarged end of the key 20 whereby rotation thereof is prevented.

Accordingly, a small child cannot turn the key 20 without first removing the guard. Conversely, since the key is held with the enlarged portion 29 in the horizontal plane, the key cannot be pushed from the lock from the outside of the door. The key before removal from the lock must have its enlarged end in the vertical plane and this is not the case as disclosed in Figure 2.

It is apparent that variations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A device for preventing unauthorized movement of a key in a door lock comprising a guard consisting of a pair of flat arms resiliently connected together at one pair of ends and having means formed therein intermediate their ends for retaining said arms on a part of a doorknob assembly, said arms having outwardly opening slots intermediate the ends thereof to hold the key for preventing rotation of a key when the key is disposed in a keyhole, and a locking device releasably holding said arms in a substantially parallel position.

2. A device for preventing unauthorized movement of a key in a door lock comprising a guard consisting of a pair of resilient arms connected together at one pair of ends bights formed intermediate the ends of said arms for retaining said arms on a part of a doorknob assembly, means formed in said arms intermediate the ends thereof for preventing rotation of a key when the 3 key is disposed in a keyhole, and a locking device releasably holding said arms in a substantially parallel position, said last mentioned device including an extension on one of said arms having a protuberance and said other arm operatively engaging said protuberance.

SETH F. STANLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are: ofr'record inf-the file of this patent:

Number 4 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Tobey May 16, 1871 Bradford Feb. 23, 1886 Tatum Oct. 12, 1886 Palmer Oct. 5, 1897 Hale Dec. 16, 1924 Aberdeen Dec. 22, 1925 .Reaoock Sept. 10, 1936 

